Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Milk Tea, and Cookies
by liTTlE-MisS-trOuBleSomE
Summary: Years ago, they had torn their broken hearts from them, losing themselves in time and memories. Now they meet again with stronger souls and shattered hearts.
1. Banished

**Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Milk Tea and Cookies **

**Summary: **Years ago, they had torn their broken hearts from them, losing themselves in time and memories. Now they meet again with stronger souls and shattered hearts.

Chapter 1: Banished 

"I've had enough from the four of you! Do you realise how much trouble you're in right now? Going off and killing S-ranked criminals isn't something you are supposed to be worrying about on your own mission! It was dangerous and irresponsible. You are hereby dismissed from you ANBU duties until further notice!"

"But-"

"No buts! You will learn how to take responsibility for your actions. I am sending you to the Village of Grass to help with the teaching at the academy there. There are to be no objections, acceptations or complaints. You are not to return unless I say so. Now get out!"

Four pairs of feet scurried out of the office.

* * *

"Was it really wise to send them to the Village of Grass? They are living there very peacefully right now, and seeing them again just might reopen their wounds."

"As I said before, they need to take responsibility for their actions…" the blonde woman turned in her chair to look at the four retreating figures.

* * *

"Obaa-chan has no right to treat the future hokage like this!" Naruto said.

"Dobe, you may be the future hokage, but she's the current one." Sasuke replied calmly. Naruto just glared.

"We'll meet by the gate at ten tonight, agreed?" asked Shikamaru. There was a round of nods before all four disappeared.

_At 10 that night…_

"Where's the dobe?" one figure asked.

"Hn." another answered.

"Late as usual, how troublesome." The last replied.

"I'm here!" an arriving figure whispered/yelled.

Three black silhouettes quickly hushed him.

"Now let's go." said one figure. All four headed out the gates of Konoha, and eastward towards the small Village of Grass.

* * *

_In the Village of Grass… _

"Can I have a cup of coffee with one honey and a sugar please?" a young woman asked.

"Make it two." her male companion said.

"Sure! Two coffees with honey and a sugar coming right up!" a cheerful waitress answered. Her warm brown eyes seem to smile and her long brown hair flowed all the way down her back. Her waitress uniform had a low u-cut neck with a small light blue bow at the front. The blue sleeves puffed up and the skirt was mid-thigh. The light blue sash ended with a big bow at the back, and the short blue apron that went below it covered the revealing skirt. The apron was a pretty blue with a white stripe near the end. She also had a pair of white angel wings attached to her back. She turned and disappeared behind a pair of double doors.

Another waitress was taking another table's orders. Her pink hair was down to her mid-back and when she smile, pearly white teeth shown behind pale pink lips. Her uniform was the same as the first waitress's except that hers was pink. Among all the pink, her emerald eyes sparkled.

"Can I get two coffees please?" the brown haired girl asked a navy haired girl once she was in the kitchen. The navy haired girl had on the regular waitress uniform without the wings. Her wings were hung up on a hook next to the doors. The girl's uniform was a light green color. Her pale white eyes stood out among her other facial features. Long navy hair was tied up in a high ponytail. She quietly discussed the café's business with the brown haired girl until they head a loud yell from the back.

"I did it! It's done!" A blonde stepped out from the back carrying a tray. The aroma of freshly baked cookies surrounded the small kitchen. The brown haired waitress just chuckled lightly before taking the two coffees and leaving. The navy haired girl headed over to the blonde and took a cookie from the tray. She bit a little bit off before she held up two thumbs.

"They're really good!" she said, as she finished the cookie. The blonde beamed.

"They should be. She spent a lot of time figuring out how to make these cookies." said a voice from the back. An elderly lady in an apron stepped out and smiled. The blonde just beamed more. "We should stop complimenting her or else she's going to fly." The old lady said afterwards. The blonde pouted. Her purple waitress uniform was covered in flour and you could see her wings hung up with her jacket by the backdoor. Her blue eyes stayed lit even as she pouted, and her blonde hair was in a low ponytail; strands of it came loose and got covered in flour.

"I need a batch of oatmeal cookies NOW!" the pink haired girl screamed from behind the double doors. The navy haired girl quickly got a box and put twelve oatmeal cookies into it. Before she left the kitchen, she put on her wings and left the blonde with some instructions.

"We need more oatmeal cookies. Bake some please?"

"We're on it!" the blonde replied, looking at the elderly lady beside her. She was already in the back, getting the dough from the cupboard. The blonde put down the tray of triple chocolate chip cookies before running into the back to join the old lady.

* * *

_Two days go by… _

Naruto, Sasuke, Neji and Shikamaru arrived at the gate of the small Village of Grass at about noon the third day after they had left the Village of Konoha. After getting approval from the gate guards, they went on ahead to find a place to stay. Eventually, the four boys found an inexpensive and cozy inn. Timeless inn had everything they needed for a long term stay. An elderly lady was behind the couter of timeless inn when the four boys entered. She smiled and asked how many rooms they wanted. The told her two and she gave them the only two rooms that were side by side. After the four boys left their belongings in their new room, they went down to take a look at the new academy. Along the way, Naruto kept complaining about being hungry so the four stopped at the inn's small café: Timeless Café.

Timeless Café was a beautifully decorated little café. The theme of the week was the heavens. The whole café had been decorated to resemble what heaven would look like. The two blonde waitresses had on matching waitress uniforms and a pair of angel wings had been attached to the back. One of the blonde waitresses sat them at a small table for four and winked at Sasuke. He ignored her and she just handed them the menu. Naruto was disappointed that there was no ramen on the menu but the café did have a variety of drinks and snacks. The blonde waitress came back to take their orders, this time, trying to make a move on Neji. Neji simply ordered his coffee and ignored her. The waitress pouted, took down all their orders and then headed through the double doors that led to the kitchen.

The girls came back with all their orders. Neji had ordered a coffee. Sasuke had a milk tea. Shikamaru had a hot chocolate and Naruto had ordered a cookie. The waitress gave him his cookie in a plastic bag and then gave him another separate box of cookies he had ordered along with his cookie. Neji, Sasuke, and Shikamaru just looked at him.

"What? It's for later!" Naruto defended himself.

* * *

Shikamaru stared at the hot chocolate before taking a sip. It tasted exactly like the hot chocolate Ino made it for him. That's why he loves hot chocolate so much. It reminded him of her…

_Flashback…when they were eight… _

"_Shika-kun! Wanna try the hot chocolate I made myself?" an eight year old Ino asked. The boy opened one eye before closing it. _

"_No." _

"_Aw…come on! I want you to tell me if it's good or not!" _

"_No." _

"_FINE! I'll just get someone else to try it!" and shouted as she stomped off angrily. _

_Fast forward to when they're twelve… _

_It was snowing lightly and in the distance, you could see four figures walking towards a small coffee shop. Their names were Ino, Sakura, Naruto, and Shikamaru. They always went to the coffee shop at least once a week. This week, they were going for the hot chocolate. _

_Once they got their orders, they all sat down and started to drink. "This is delicious!" Naruto said, taking another big gulp. _

"_Still not as great as Ino's homemade hot chocolate though." Sakura said. Ino nodded._

"_What do you think of it Shika-kun?" Ino asked. _

"_Troublesome…" Shikamaru replied, but in his heart, he already knew whose's would be better. _

_Fast forward when they're fourteen… _

"_How are you feeling Shika-kun?" Ino asked coming into his room. Shikamaru had been sick the past week and could not get out of bed. She looked to find him sitting up and looking at the ceiling. _

"_I want to go watch the clouds…" he muttered. _

"_Aren't you glad I'm here in any way?" Ino asked, putting her hands on her hips. _

"_Troublesome…" _

"_Well excuse me!" Ino said as she walked out of the door and slammed it. Shikamaru sighed before going back to sleep. When he woke up again, it was four in the afternoon. He realised that he was thirsty and reached over to where his cup should've been. Instead, he felt his thermal bag there. He opened it and inside, there was hot chocolate in a thermal bottle. With it was a note: _

_Shika-kun _

_Drink this quickly and get well. We need your lazy ass up here to train by tomorrow. _

_Ino _

_P.S: you know you love my hot chocolate! _

_End flashback… _

Shikamaru just smiled sadly again before taking another sip.

* * *

Sasuke was staring at his milk tea. It had too much milk and not enough tea. Sakura always made the perfect milk tea. It was always the perfect blend. Sakura…

_Flashback… _

_Sasuke was at the training grounds. He had already been training since three in the morning. Why? Because he couldn't sleep. He drank some water before resuming his training. Just then, he sensed an all too familiar presence. _

"_Hi Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said, holding a bottle of something light brown. Sasuke thought it was hot chocolate because the girl always went with the blond, the idiot and the Nara to this coffee shop. When they invited him, he said no. What was the point of going anyways? Sakura caught him looking at her bottle. _

"_Would you like some Sasuke-kun?" she asked politely. _

"_Hn." Sasuke grunted. _

"_But it's milk tea! Everyone loves milk tea!" the girl said enthusiastically. Sasuke had no idea what milk tea was. Silence engulfed the training grounds. Suddenly, Sakura came to an understanding. _

"_Sasuke…do you even know what milk tea is?" she asked eyeing him. _

"_HN." She shook her head. Then she shoved the bottle to him. _

"_Here. Have this bottle. I make it myself so I have enough to go around. I'll just run home a grab another bottle. Maybe one for Naruto too. Be back in five!"Sakura said, as she ran off in the direction she came in. Sasuke stared curiously at the bottle before opening it and taking a small sip. What he tasted amazed him. _

_So from that day on, Sakura knew to bring a bottle of milk tea for Sasuke every Tuesday. Because Tuesday is the day Sasuke started to like milk tea. Too be more exact…her milk tea (he wouldn't drink the store brought milk tea). _

_End flashback… _

Sasuke just closed his eyes and drank the milk tea, memories of the emerald-eyed beauty washing over him.

* * *

Neji had his eyes closed, while he drank his coffee. Coffee always reminded him of the one thing that he didn't want to think about…

_Flashback…_

_Neji waited for Tenten to show up. It was usually the other way around. But not today. Today, she had the great Neji waiting for her. Neji didn't see her but he could sense her in the distance, racing over here at an alarming rate. _

"_Sorry Neji-kun. I had to go get some coffee first because I couldn't sleep last night and I don't want to fall asleep later. Would you like one too? I got one for you." She put a small cup in his hands. Neji looked at it and saw this black liquid in it. He sniffed it. It didn't seem to appealing. He was about to put it in his mouth when Tenten stopped him. _

"_Neji, you're supposed to put cream and sugar in it first." she said as she handed him two packages of sugar and several small cream-in-a-container (a/n: I LOVE those things!!!). Neji poured in the cream and sugar and watched as the black liquid turned a light brown color. He took a sip and it wasn't bad at all. It was rich and there was a very addicting scent to it. _

_From that day on, Neji always waited for Tenten. He allowed her to be a little late because he knew she was getting him coffee. _

_End flashback… _

Neji opened his eyes and sighed. He turned to glare at Naruto for stuffing himself with the cookie in an indecent way. Naruto looked like he was actually thinking for a moment.

* * *

Cookies always reminded Naruto of the cookie at his doorstep everyday. One morning, Naruto had woken up and when he stepped outside for the paper, he found along with it, a brown bag. In the brown bag, there was a cookie. A chocolate chip cookie to be exact. Naruto, being the person he is, immediately took a bite out of the cookie not bothering to check for poison or anything. It was delicious. He headed back in with the paper in one hand and a bitten cookie in another. Every morning after that, he had found another cookie beside his paper. Even on Sundays, when there was no paper delivered to his doorstep, there was still the cookie. It was not always chocolate chip. There were ones with nuts, white chocolate, m and m's, and even Oreo bits!

Suddenly, one day, the cookies stopped coming. He waited for a few days and when it was inevitable that there were no more cookies, he gave up. But a part of him had always wanted to find the person who made the cookies. It always felt right for the person to give him the cookies. He didn't realise it back then, but he had lost something that was much more precious. And it wasn't the cookies.

The four boys soon left the coffee shop and headed straight down the street to where the new academy stood. They heard the store's welcome bell tinkle behind them but didn't bother to look at who it was. They were here to do a job, and they would do a good job. Then they could leave and never come back, because the innocent coffee shop had just brought up some of their most painful memories.


	2. The Pastry Chef

**CHAPTER2CHAPTER2CHAPTER2CHAPTER2CHAPTER2CHAPTER2 **

Here's chapter 2 everyone (as stated above)!!!!!!!!!! HEHE!!! I hope you all like it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(You know me, when I'm sugar high, I get like this… .)

Chapter 2: The Pastry Chef 

_Recap… _

_The four boys soon left the coffee shop and headed straight down the street to where the new academy stood. They heard the store's welcome bell tinkle behind them but didn't bother to look at who it was. They were here to do a job, and they would do a good job. Then they could leave and never come back, because the innocent coffee shop had just brought up some of their most painful memories. _

_End recap… _

* * *

The brown haired waitress and the pink haired waitress were walking back to the café when they saw the four boys leave. The two waitresses had gone out to but some of the ingredients needed to bake their blonde friend's oatmeal cookies. The two were gone as soon as soon as Kokoro and Maria (the blonde waitresses) had come to take over their shifts. There were just getting back when they saw the four boys. All four were muscular and probably very good looking. The two girls just shrugged and entered the shop, the bell hanging from the door tinkering behind them.

* * *

"Are we clear, now, on the details? Hyuuga-san will be taking over the weaponry class, Uchiha-san will be taking over the genjutsu class, Nara-san will be taking over the ninjutsu class, and Uzumaki-san will get the taijutsu class. Please be here at eight thirty tomorrow. Thank you for your time!"

Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, and Shikamaru bowed respectfully before leaving the small office of the new academy. The four had gone to the academy to tell them about the mission. Tsunade had already arranged ahead of time for their jobs at the new academy so all they had to do was go for an interview. After the principal gave them all their new classes, they left to go back to the inn. On the way there, they passed by the café they were at earlier.

Suddenly, Sasuke stopped and opened the door to the café. He stepped in and looked around.

"Teme, what's the matter?" Naruto asked. Neji and Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha.

"I thought I saw an angel with pink hair. I thought I saw Sakura. I know it was Sakura. I know it!" Sasuke said frantically, looking around. No pink hair was visible.

"Sasuke, you have to accept the fact that she's dead. She died on that mission. All of them did remember?" Shikamaru said. Secretly, though, he was hoping Sasuke was right and Sakura was alive. Then Ino might be too. The blonde from earlier noticed them and had walked over to where Sasuke was now.

"I knew you couldn't resist me. That why you came looking for me!" she said, as excited as a child when he sees snow for the first time.

"We're not here to look for you, we're here to look for-" Sasuke started but was cut off by another male voice.

"Itachi-san!" squealed the girl as Itachi appeared from the kitchen followed by the other blonde waitress.

"Itachi!" Sasuke said, his sharingan flaring up into a bloody red. The other boys each inched their hands closer to their kunai pouch. All of their thoughts flared up in anger as they remembered everything about the girls. Fortunately, there was no one but an old lady there to witness this conflict. Suddenly, there was a voice coming from the kitchen.

"What's all the ruckus about out there Itachi?" Deidara called, appearing from behind the double doors. Sasori and Kisame also poked their heads out to see what was going on.

"I am going to kill you! You killed Sakura!" Sasuke said in anger before pulling out a kunai and launching at Itachi.

* * *

"Stop this immediately!" an old, cracked voice yelled. Everyone turned to see that the old lady in the store had risen to her feet. She seemed to be having trouble standing and Deidara quickly rushed over to her side to get her to sit back down. She insisted on going over to where Sasuke and Itachi where so Deidara helped her over and she looked at Sasuke. He glared. Itachi, however, bowed to her respectfully. Kisame and Sasori did too. Deidara just dipped his head.

"Shuko-san." they all said in unison. The four other boys looked confused. Here were the four biggest criminal Akatsuki members and they were bowing to this old lady? What was going on?

The woman named Shuko must've caught their confused looks and smiled at them.

"I'm sure your all very confused right now," she began, "but all will be explained in a little bit. Right now, though, come join me for some cookies. Itachi, you too. Sasori, Kisame, and Deidara, please take Kokoro and Maria (the other blonde waitress) and explain to them what they shall be doing for the rest of the day." Deidara just nodded, and giving his spot to Itachi, they headed into the kitchen with Kokoro in front of them and Maria staring at them from the kitchen.

* * *

"Now com on over." Shuko said, indicating to the table where she just sat. The boys looked at one another before following her and Itachi cautiously. Shuko sat on a big cushioned chair and Itachi pulled up a wooden chair to sit next to her. The four boys sat facing the two.

"Now, can I begin the explanations?" Shuko asked the boys. They all nodded.

"Two years ago, these four boys came to this town. I had received a message from the hokage of Konoha, telling me that there would be a bunch of travellers coming and I was to take them in. The moment I saw them, I rushed them into the rooms at the inn my sister and I owned. I had told her about the message and because she respected Konoha and its hokage so much, she and I took them in. They have never caused trouble so we never worry about them. They also help out in the shop and they never ask for money. They get it themselves by working their own jobs and doing a mission for their home village every one in a while." Shuko finished. The boys looked shocked. Are Itachi and his gang really not planning anything out of the ordinary? Itachi smirked. He can sense the doubt from the boys, but he doubted that they had any guts to asked Shuko. The old lady may seem fragile and small, but she has this authority in her voice and no one (not even Sasori) dares to talk back.

Itachi turned to look at all of them. "I think it's time for my story." he said.

"We are not actually members of the Akatsuki; we were spies for Konoha. Years ago, we joined the Akatsuki in order to help those who were captured escape and those who were wanted get caught. Two years ago, we appointed a new leader. He seemed to be a likely choice at first. His name was Katsu and he was one of the best fighters that we had ever seen. He was a criminal from the land of mist when we first met him. We quickly got him to be our new leader and he started changing the Akatsuki. He renamed us to be Kira and wanted to change a lot of the old ways of the Akatsuki. We were trying to escape one night when we were caught. There was this huge battle and I remember taking all of us and doing a teleportation jutsu. We ended up here in the Village of Grass and we have been here ever since." Itachi finished. The boys stared wide eyed at him. There was no way that story was true right? Itachi pulled out a sheet of paper.

"Here's the letter we got from Konoha when they discovered we had survived." He said, handing it to Neji. Neji read is over and confirmed that it was written by the hokage herself. Suddenly, Deidara appeared from the kitchen holding a tray of cookies.

"Cookies anyone?" he asked. Neji, Sasuke, and Shikamaru politely refused.

"What if it's got poison in it! No way am I trying your cookies!" Naruto refused.

"Suit yourself. These cookies weren't made by me anyways. They were made by our pastry chef." Deidara answered, taking the cookies back into the kitchen with him. Naruto's eyes widened.

"No! Give me a COOKIE!" he yelled following Deidara past the double doors and into the kitchen. What he saw in there made his eyes widen even more and his jaw drop.

* * *

"Get out!" yelled Sasori in a pink apron. He had flour in his hair and lots of egg shells were scattered around him.

"Are you the pastry chef?" Naruto asked, his jaw still hung in the air.

"I'm not the chef that made those cookies Deidara is holding but I am a pastry chef." He responded. Deidara then shoved a cookie into Naruto's hand.

"Take it and leave." he said, munching on his own cookie. Naruto gladly did as he was asked.

When he came out of the kitchen, Neji and Sasuke looked at him like he was an idiot. Shikamaru was sleeping by then. Shuko was smiling at him and Itachi was smirking. Itachi got up when the bell, hung on the door, rung and two girls walked in. Shuko turned to the boys and told them all about this coffee shop and about Timeless Inn. She told them about her decreased husband and about her sister. Neji and Sasuke realized that the woman that helped them at the front desk of the inn was actually Shuko's sister. By the time they were done with the conversation it was getting late, so Neji excused himself and the others and they walked back to the inn. While they were walking, Neji suddenly stopped and whipped around. Naruto did too and ran in that direction. Neji stood still. Sasuke rose an eyebrow at the two and Shikamaru had his eyes closed.

"I saw them…I saw all of them…Tenten…" Neji muttered. Sasuke and Shikamaru sighed.

"I swear it was them. They ran off in the direction Naruto just went. Come on! We can still catch up if we hurry." Neji said, losing his usually stoic composure. Just then, Naruto came back.

"I lost them…I lost Hinata-chan again…" Naruto said, his voice just as sad and depressed as when he learned that Hinata had died.

"It couldn't be them…they died on that mission remember?" Sasuke said, his voice just as cold and sad as Naruto's.

"Let's go," Shikamaru said, "We still have work tomorrow." The boys continued back to Timeless inn, their thoughts lost in their female counterparts.

* * *

The next day, all four boys were up and dressed and were heading towards the academy when they passed by Timeless Café. None of them wanted to go in so they headed straight to the academy. They parted at the door to go teach their respective classes.

At noon break, the four boys met up again at a small restaurant just outside the school.

"These kids are well beyond help." Sasuke said, his eyes looking more tired by the minute.

"I'll say." Neji muttered. His usually cold voice had none of its hard edge to it. Shikamaru just sighed and lowered his head to take a quick nap.

"Those kids didn't listen to me at all. It was like they all had sugar for breakfast or something. They couldn't even sit still for minute!" Naruto yelled, making half the people in the restaurant look at him. Neji and Sasuke glared at Naruto but they couldn't agree with him more. What had these kids eaten for breakfast? They sighed as they realised it was time to go back to work.

* * *

While Sasuke was teaching (the class was quiet for once) a messenger bird came to the window. Sasuke unrolled the small scroll from its leg and it flew off. He realised that these were just student announcements and he read it to the students. While they were talking among themselves, Sasuke himself read the announcements and realized that there were some volunteer opportunities available at the orphanage. He thought that if word got to Tsunade about them volunteering, she would allow them back in a shorter amount of time. Sasuke smiled at his brilliant plan.

* * *

When they were walking back to the inn, Sasuke told them about volunteering at the orphanage and how it would help their image with the hokage. The boys reluctantly agreed. They stopped at timeless Café when they saw that Shuko was sitting by one of the tables near the window.

"Hello boys!" she said, smiling at them as they walked it. All of them said hi and Naruto grinned back.

"Hello little brother and all of his foolish friends." Itachi said, smirking. The boys just ignored him.

"Hey guys! Do you want to try this cake?" Deidara asked, bring a beautifully decorated cake out. The boys hesitated.

"I promise our female pastry chef made it. The cookie Naruto-kun ate yesterday was made by her too." Deidara insisted, slicing the cake up. He gave a piece to Shuko and shoved Neji a piece. Then he gave everyone else a piece. They all tried it and even the boys had to admit it was a very good cake.

"I would like to meet this pastry chef one day and get her to teach me how to make those cookies. They were DELICIOUS!" Naruto said. At this statement, Deidara and Itachi frowned. At once, Sasori called Itachi and Deidara into the kitchen. The two headed in where Kisame and Sasori were already waiting. Naruto turned to look at the others.

"Do you think there's something fishy about the pastry chef?" he asked the others. They nodded.

"When you said you wanted to meet her, Deidara and Itachi frowned like there was something wrong with that." Shikamaru said, heading into his thinking position. Before he could start thinking though, Deidara and Itachi came out of the kitchen followed by Kisame and Sasori. The boys glanced at them suspiciously. Kisame, Sasori, Deidara, and Itachi smiled at them and then to each other.

* * *

"We have word from Konoha for a new mission." Kisame said.

"And it involves you boys." Deidara said.

"First, would you like to see the new pastry chef?" Itachi asked.

"Sure!" Naruto said, all of his suspicion gone in an instant. The toher three boys rolled their eyes. Naruto followed Deidara and Sasori into the kitchen. His eyes widened to the size of plates when he saw who the new pastry chef was.

"This can't be happening!" he said, his jaw dropping open.

"What can't be happening?" Shikamaru asked, getting up to see who it is. Sasuke and Neji followed him. When they saw the pastry chef, all of their jaws dropped.

* * *

"Ino?" Shikamaru said softly.

"It can't be her right?" Naruto asked.

"Ah, but it is." Itachi said.

"Ino!" Shikamaru said, running up to her. She turned around and smiled at him.

"How can I help you sir?" she asked.

Shikamaru stood still. The old him would've thought that Ino was just joking about not knowing him. The new him was different. And somehow, Ino was too.

* * *

**Alright! There's chapter 2!!!!!! I'm hoping for reviews so pretty pretty please please please please reivew!!!!!! **

**Step 1: Press the purple button below  
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_!!!!!little-miss-troublesome!!!!!_


	3. A Mission Gone Wrong

_**Chapter 3-Hot Chocolate, Coffee, Milk Tea and Cookies **_

_littlemisstroublesome says: _Here's chapter 3 and this one is dedicated to the reviewers of the story right now!!!!!!!!

_Tennie-chan: _let's give our warmest applause to…

_Everyone: _**XxXangelkunoichiXxX!!!!!! and kitten9322!!!!!!!**

_Littlemisstroublesome:_ thank you for reviewing!!!! Lots of love from littlemisstroublesome

Chapter 3: A Mission Gone Wrong 

_Recap… _

"_Ino!" Shikamaru said, running up to her. She turned around and smiled at him._

"_How can I help you sir?" she asked._

_Shikamaru stood still. The old him would've thought that Ino was just joking about not knowing him. The new him was different. And somehow, Ino was too. _

_End Recap… _

* * *

"You really don't remember me Ino?" Shikamaru questioned. Ino shook her head. Then she looked behind Shikamaru at Neji, Sasuke, Naruto and Itachi.

"Nii-chan!" she called happily, to the latter as she ran up to him and hugged him. Itachi smiled gently and hugged back. The rest of the boys just opened and closed their mouths, trying to find something to say. Ino spotted Sasori, Deidara, and Kisame and went up to all of them, giving them a hug each and addressing them as her brothers. Shikamaru glared at them. His glare increased when Deidara smirked **and** rubbed Ino and the back

Shikamaru turned to look at Ino longingly. After hoping and wishing silently that Ino was alive, she appears before him and she has no idea who he is?! Shikamaru was getting madder by the second. Then he saw Ino smile at Itachi. The same smile she always gave him when they used to watch the clouds together. Shikamaru snapped.

"Damn it Ino!" he yelled angrily, before stomping out of the kitchen.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru and then at the clueless Ino, wondering who to confront first.

"I'll go after him." Sasori said, as he headed out to find Shikamaru. Ino turned to Deidara.

"Nii-chan, who are those people?" she stared at him in an innocent way. Deidara smiled at her like Itachi did.

"Come and I'll introduce you," he said calmly. "These are my new friends. This is Naruto, that's Sasuke, and then guy over there is Neji." He said, pointing to each of the boys respectively. The boys waited for Ino to have some idea of who they were.

Ino just blinked innocently and smiled at all of them.

"Hi! My name is Ino Yamanaka! Nice to meet you all!" she said happily. The boys didn't try to hide their shock as she introduced herself to them.

Itachi had caught their questioned looks and smirked at them. He beckoned Kisame, Deidara, and the boys out of the kitchen. Then he told Ino to keep working on the triple chocolate cookies she'd been making the other day. Ino nodded and got back to work.

All of the boys exited the kitchen and sat down at one big table. The café was empty of it's customers except for Shikamaru who was already sitting at the table, his head down on the wooden surface. Sasori was behind the counter getting everyone some coffee.

"What…happened…to Ino?" Shikamaru asked, raising his head from the table.

"This may come as a big shock for all of you but-" Deidara was interrupted when the bell to the door of the shop rung.

"We're back!" said a very familiar voice. Everyone immediately recognized that voice.

"Hinata-chan?" Naruto said, his voice confused and saddened. Hinata tilted her head.

"Why didn't you tell me we had guests over Nii-chan!" she glared at Itachi, putting her hands on her hips. He just smirked and shrugged innocently.

"Grr!!!" she growled at him. Three voices were heard behind her.

"Tenten…" Neji said, almost losing his composure.

"Sakura…" Sasuke trailed off, lost in the beauty of the supposedly dead rosette. The three boys remained silent as someone else spoke up from behind them.

"Would you girls go put the ingredients in the kitchen and then bring us all some cookies?" Shuko asked.

"Yes Shuko-sama." The girls replied. Then they looked at Itachi, and Deidara.

"Don't the two of you have work you need to be doing?" Sakura asked, placing her hands on her hips and leaning her weight to one side.

"Don't you have to go teach at the academy today, Nii-chans? Tenten asked Sasori and Kisame. All four just shrugged again.

"Whatever. But if you get in trouble with hokage-sama again, we're not going to bail you out this time!" Hinata said as Tenten took the groceries from Shuko and the three younger girls walked into the kitchen. Squeals and hellos were heard and a round of conversations were followed as the four girls put their ingredients away and prepared the cookies.

All four of the boys looked at the five people sitting in front of them, their eyes demanding for an explanation to all this.

"As I was saying," Deidara continued, "this may come as a big shock to you all but when we first received word about four girls going into Sound for a mission, we were quite worried. These were only young ANBU that recently got promoted to that rank. Even experienced ANBU have trouble getting in and out of Sound. The hokage had sent special orders herself for us to "watch out for these girls or she'll personally come and akin us alive". We had just elected Kira to be our new leader at that time so everything was still very…new."

Sasori continued. "We had learned that Kira had captured four ANBU a few days after he was elected and we went to find out who it was. As we thought, it was the four girls Hokage-sama told us to take care of. At that time, they still had their memories of what had happened. Kira had started to develop a new torture medication that can burn people mentally once it had been released. He said he wanted us all to witness its power and he told us he was going to release it to the girls as soon as he finished making it."

Itachi told them the rest of the story. "We knew we had to get out of there ASAP because we were all in grave danger. Somehow, Kira didn't really trust the four of us and we learned from a secret source that he also wanted to try the medication on us. We slipped into his medication room one night and found the almost complete project that he was making. When we heard footsteps down the halls, we panicked. So we did what we could at the moment; we threw every possible medication there was on the shelves into the medication that Kira had made and we sprinted to where the dungeon was. Turns out, the girls already knew about our cover so we had no trouble getting out." The boy's eyes widened.

"So then what happened?" Naruto asked. Kisame answered.

"Well, we got out and we started sprinting towards Konoha, but because of the medication we added into that mix Kira was making, it exploded and Kira came after us. We were fast but he was faster. He caught up to us in no time and we braced ourselves for a fight. Kira then threw something at us. At first, we thought it was a bomb so the four of us jumped out of the way in time. The girls weren't so lucky. Kira had caught them with his vine jutsu and the smoke had covered the field before we were able to rescue them. Once we thought it was clear, we headed down to check things out. The girls were lying on the floor and Kira was gone. We got to them and they were still breathing."

"But how did they lose their memories?!" Shikamaru gritted his teeth together.

"I'm getting to that!" Kisame yelled at the blond. "Now as I was saying, when we got to them, they were breathing but unconscious. And it looked like they were dying. We took them to the nearest village, which happened to be here, and it turns out that lady Hokage had already known about the details of our failed mission. She sent Shuko-sama and her sister, Suki-sama, to help us. In time, we were healed, but the girls were still unconscious. Then about a year ago, Tenten woke up one day. Itachi was there by her side when that happened. Maybe I'll let him tell you the rest." Kisame finished. Itachi nodded and turned to face the distraught boys.

"I had come home from work that day and wanted to check up on the girls." He started. "I had gone into Tenten's room and there she was, sitting up. She looked at me strangely and then asked who me who I was. I asked her if she remembered anything and she said she only remembers her name and some of her friends. She didn't remember anything but her name and Hinata, Ino, and Sakura. I told her a lie and said that I was her brother. She seemed to believe me and I introduced Deidara, Sasori, and Kisame as her brothers too. Later on, the other girls just started to wake up one by one. They all didn't remember a thing. They only remember parts of their memories and what each other looked like. We've been here ever since and the girls have had no problem adjusting to this lifestyle. They still have their ninja training somehow and they slowly remembered hokage-sama too. They're even better than before, ninja skill wise." Itachi smiled.

"Do they remember anything about the village or their friends back there?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"No. Unfortunately, the smoke bomb that Kira threw actually had the ability to erase their memories. Fortunately, they escaped some of it and manage to keep some of their memories." Deidara finished.

"Did they get any of their other lost memories back yet?" Sasuke asked. The other boys leaned in for this answer.

"A bit here and there, but it takes a really long time just for them to remember maybe a special day or their birthdays." Kisame said.

"It gives them headaches when they try too hard to get their memories back, so we don't push them anymore. They're happy and that's all that counts." Itachi said, watching as the four girls came out with trays of cookies and coffee. A round of conversations started after the food was even distributed. Hinata and Sakura were yelling at Itachi-nii for not telling them there were guests. They promptly apologised to Neji, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto.

* * *

It was getting late and Shuko had asked the four boys to take the four girls back to the inn. Itachi and the others still had some clean up work to do. The eight were walking back home, the girls in the front and the boys at the back, when Sakura turned around and asked the boys something.

"Would you guys like to join us for a bite later?" she asked them, her emerald eyes sparkling with happiness and ease. All the boys looked at Sasuke for the answer, knowing that it might break him to think that Sakura had completely forgotten him. Each of the boys had fallen apart in their own separate ways when the girls had gone missing. They finally broke when the girls were pronounced dead. Each had grieved in their own way for the girls who had left, taking their hearts with them.

"Sure, we'd love to." Sasuke replied with a small smile. Sakura beamed and turned around, to talk about dinner plans with the rest of the girls.

"Teme…are ya going to be ok?" Naruto asked, a little worried about his friend.

"Yea, sure." Sasuke replied. When the eight arrived at the inn, there was no one at the front desk so the girls bid farewell to the boys and left to prepare dinner.

_With the girls…_

"Hey girls, do you think that those boys seem familiar somehow?" Tenten asked the rest of her group. They all nodded.

"It's like they played a really important part in our past lives or something. I really can't put my finger on it though." Ino said.

"My head's starting to hurt so let's just get some food ready ok?" Hinata said, pulling out four aprons. All four of the girls nodded before putting on their aprons and bring out their best cooking skills.

_With the Boys… _

After they had parted, each boy just thinking about their female counterparts. On each of their minds was the way they had each grieved for their girls individually.

_Naruto was devastated when he heard about Sakura, Tenten, and Ino's disappearances. He was even more upset when he learned that Hinata was missing along with them too. He didn't know why but the navy haired girl had always fascinated him. Maybe it was the way she would always light up bright red after talking to him. Maybe it was because he thought her stammering was cute. The eight of them had grown up together and had so many memories together, but all he could think about right now were the memories of him and Hinata. _

_Shikamaru had been at a lost when he heard that four of their friends had disappeared. He remained cool on the surface but he was secretly very worried about his childhood friend. He always worried about her more than he should. More than a friend should worry about another friend. He had always tried to deny it but he couldn't any longer. He was in love with his childhood friend. When he got the news about her death, he watched as one by one, the boys crumbled. Naruto broke down crying and both Sasuke and Neji walked around half dead. Shikamaru felt his heart tear in half had almost spent all his time cloud gazing or star gazing. He was already too late. _

_A million questions had popped up in Sasuke's head when he got the news about Sakura's disappearance. He wanted to crush whoever might have been keeping his friends hostage into millions of tiny pieces. He wanted to save them and get them home safely. He wanted Sakura home and he wanted her home now. Not knowing where she is was killing him. Sasuke didn't realise it but Sakura had slowly become part of his world. A part of him that could never be taken away again. When he heard that she was dead, it was like someone took a knife and cut a huge chuck of him off. _

_Neji had not shown much panic when Tenten had disappeared. He knew Tenten and he trusted her to get back here with Haruno, Yamanaka, and Hinata-sama alive. Secretly though, he wished that he was there right now. As the days went by though, he started to worry. Tenten usually never took this long for a mission. Tenten should've been back and training with him by now. He started to really panic when they were a week late for their due date. Suddenly, a young chuunin came and gave him some grave news. Tenten was dead. Neji hadn't gotten a good night's sleep after that day. His dreams were filled with memories of him and Tenten and his nightmares were of Tenten in a cold dark room. She was yelling for help but he could not reach her. A pair of blood red eyes had killed her the instant he had reached to help her. _

All four of the boys sighed. There was no used thinking about this right now. Their main priority right now was to make sure the girls got their memories back, because without them, the boys would get too lonely.

_Later that night… _

The boys waited around in the lobby for the girls. They assumed that the girls would want them to meet here. Just then, all four of the girls came down the stairs…followed by Itachi, Sasori, Deidara, and Kisame! All four of the boys moaned silently. There were hoping for a little quality time with each of the girls but it didn't look like that would happen.

"Hey! Are you ready to go?" Ino asked. All of the others nodded. The group of 12 headed out of the lobby and into the chilly night air. The skies were clear tonight and you could see many stars. Shikamaru looked up. He had gotten into the habit of star-gazing after Ino's supposed "death" and he had found himself finding a little peace in it. Now he prayed that it'd give Ino just one memory of him back.

"Where are we going tonight?" Itachi asked. The boys shrugged but the girls lit up.

"You mean WE get to chose tonight?!?!?!" Hinata questioned excitedly. Deidara nodded. The girls squealed and huddle. When they parted, they looked even more excited then they first were.

"We" Ino started.

"Are" Sakura continued.

"Going" Hinata carried on.

"The Bar!" Tenten yelled excitedly. All of the boys groaned.

"Fine…" they said consciously. The girl made quick high fives and sprinted off down the street. All the boys followed at a slower pace.

* * *

Nothing to say here except sorry for the fact that I just shoved so much information in this poor chapter…HeHeHeHe…

_littlemisstroublesome_


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